Special Thanksgiving Programming

As you celebrate a day of giving thanks with your family and friends, KACU will present a special Thanksgiving Day programming lineup, alongside your regular favorites, like Morning Edition and On Being.

9am: APM's Giving Thanks: A Celebration of Fall, Food, and Gratitude

New for 2013, two wise, witty women host Giving Thanks: Julia Sweeney, celebrated writer and actor, best known from Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me! and Saturday Night Live; and Anne Lamott, best-selling author. Classical music is the heart and soul of the original Giving Thanks. This year features a tribute to Bach, including Simone Dinnerstein; Eric Whitacre’s gorgeous setting of E.E. Cumming’s I Thank You God for Most This Amazing Day; and Dawn Upshaw sings Maria Schneider’s breathtaking new setting of Winter Morning Walks by Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. Between the music, no clichés about pilgrims and pumpkin pies. Instead, it’s a contemporary celebration of the spirit of Gratitude. And continuing a Giving Thanks tradition shared by 300 APM stations: a spellbinding story from actor Charles Laughton, giving thanks for Art that connects us all to the creative spirit.

Gather the family for a holiday favorite: Rabbit Ears production of the classic story of Squanto. Academy Award-nominee Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves) narrates this true story about a Native American sold into slavery in Spain. Years later, he returns and teaches the Pilgrims how to survive the difficult first years of the Plymouth colony. Woodwind virtuoso Paul McCandless recalls the drama of the first Thanksgiving with a stirring musical score.

12pm: Thanksgiving with Cantus 2013

Thanksgiving with Cantus 2013

Cantus is one of the premiere men's vocal ensembles. Alison Young joins them to talk about the holiday, music, and food. This year's program will focus on the importance of heritage, including works from the Sacred Harp, Lakota Wiyanki by Herrington/Woodside, and features the premiere of Psalm of the Soil by Sarah Kirkland Snider.